OPRAH
SARCOPHAGUS REACHES OUT TO UNPREPARED RETIREES
Health Care Reform Will Come Too Late For Some Baby Boomers

CHICAGO (April
2008) – With her endorsement of presidential candidate
Barack Obama, Oprah is making known her views on the need for healthcare
reform. But controversial sculptor Daniel Edwards is urging talk show
host Oprah Winfrey to do more by taking the time on her show to reach
out to the recently retired baby boomers for whom healthcare reform will
come too late. Edwards is offering his latest creation to Oprah, to assist
the television icon in breaking the ice with baby boomers to encourage
them to prepare for their own funerals. The Oprah Sarcophagus, courtesy
of NYC’s Leo Kesting Gallery, will be unveiled April 24th, near
Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios at Chicago’s Gardenfresh Gallery.

A gilded coffin lid bearing Oprah’s full-figured likeness with slimming
vertical stripes, The Oprah Sarcophagus is designed for a look of cultural
neutrality with respect to Oprah’s audience and the style of her
magazine. “The Oprah Sarcophagus is the ideal visual aid for educating
boomers about living wills, casket choices, and memorial service arrangements,”
says gallery co-director John Leo. “We would like to hear Oprah
tell her viewers that a great coffin should be something of which to aspire,
and that no one should have to settle for a pine box.”

Edwards’s inspiration for the golden casket developed
after reading how Oprah was in mourning over the death of her 2-year-old
golden retriever, Gracie. Oprah recounted, “As I stood there dazed,
stunned, crying over Gracie’s dead body I learned the lesson to
enjoy life but remember to slow down, too.”

“It might slow people down in a self-reflective
and spiritual way if they were to consider their own funeral,” said
the artist, adding that inspiration for the Sarcophagus was reinforced
by a headline he read in a grocery market checkout line, which suggested
Oprah had only six years to live.

“The baby boomer generation is in poor health, afflicted
with obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and is dependent on multiple
prescriptions. Baby Boomers should be encouraged to plan for their inevitable
funerals,” says gallery co-director David Kesting.

A half scale model of the Oprah Sarcophagus will be exhibited
alongside an Oprah Burial Mask. Leo Kesting Gallery confirms a life-size
Sarcophagus exists, though currently, there are no plans to show it. “We
respect Daniel’s decision to reserve the unveiling of the life-size
Oprah Sarcophagus for the stage of Oprah Winfrey’s show,”
said David Kesting.

Edwards’s previous sculptures include a nude Britney
Spears giving birth on a bearskin rug, an interactive autopsy of Paris
Hilton with removable organs, and a war dead Prince Harry clutching the
cameo-locket of his late mother Princess Diana.